Humidifier nozzle



May 17, 1966 R. c. BURNHAM 3,251,556

HUMIDIFIER NOZZLE Filed Dec. 26, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet l Tlq.2. BYiw//f%m M 17 1 R. c. BURNHAM HUMIDIFIER NOZZLE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 26, 1965 M v, :w R m M NV IIHIHIHII m M. P a m WM H p\ M m .w H Q a f/ b @w w E u T ll: :l: 1 |i|| r///// //2/////////%% United States Patent 3,251,556 HUMIDIFIER NOZZLE Richard C. Burnham, Greenfield, Mass, assignor to Bete Fog Nozzle, Inc., Greenfield, Mass, a corporation of This invention relates to a mist-producing nozzle and is directed particularly to a nozzle to produce a fine fog for humidifying an enclosed space.

An object of the invention is to produce an inexpensive mist-producing and mixing nozzle.

Another object of the invention is to provide a humidifier that operates at ordinary water pressures and does not require any moving parts or electrical connections for its operation.

Another object of the invention is to provide a humidifier nozzle that is inexpensive to manufacture and simple and inexpensive to install.

Other and further objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the drawings, in which FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the horizontal form of the nozzle;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the horizontal form of the nozzle taken along lines 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the discharge end of the horizontal form of the nozzle taken along lines 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the orifice producing the stream of water in the nozzle taken along lines 44 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the vertical form of the nozzle; and

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic view of the stream of water formed by the orifice and the formation of the fine mist.

In FIGS. 1 and 2 the horizontal embodiment is illustrated with a main tubular member 10 extending horizontally and a horizontally positioned feed tubular mem- .ber 11 joined to the main tubular member at an intermediate point. These two members may be made of plastic material with the feed member fitted in and cemented to the main or discharge tubular member. At the other end of the feed tubular member an orifice 12 may be frictionally fitted therein and form a stream of water 13 which impinges against the sloped target surface 14 of the metal pin 15 fitting or threaded through the wall of the main tubular member. The pin 15 may be of a solid cylindrical shape.

The tubular member 10 forms an enclosed chamber 21 and has an end opening 16 for emitting vapors therefrom. The other end of the main tubular member has a rear wall 17 with a small opening 18. Between the rear wall 17 and the feed tubular member 11 a slot or notch 19 is formed in the main tubular member to permit the entry of air, thereby forming an air inlet opening. The slot 19 extends a substantial distance around the tubular member 10 leaving a portion of the wall between the ends of the slot. A valve means in the form of a metal ring 20 is slideably positioned on the main tubular member to set the size of the opening 19. Thus air enters into the chamber 21 formed by the tubular member 10 to mix with the fine spray 22 created by the impingement of the droplets formed from the stream 13 on the target surface 14. The air carries the fine mist or fog out through the opening 16 where it mixes with air in a room or flowing through a duct system.

A feature of this nozzle is that all discharged mist is in a form for evaporation. All of the Water not formed into the fine airborne mist ejected through the opening 16 with the droplets moving transverse thereto.

3,251,556 Patented May 17,1966

is retained in the chamber 21 and drained away. A

, semi-Wall 23 is formed across the lower portion of the opening 16 and an outlet drain 24 is provided to remove the water from the lower portion of the chamber 21. The outlet drain 24 may be connected by a rubber, plastic or copper pipe 25 to carry the water to the drainage system of a building or otherwise dispose of it. The opening 18 provides for a minimum amount of air to enter into the chamber 21. The orifice 12 is formed into two separable pieces 26 and 30. The piece 26 has a cylindrical tubular member 27 fitting inside the feed member 11 and a hexagonal head 28 which is internally threaded-to receive the externally threaded piece 30. The piece 30 has a cylindrical passage 31. The disc or orifice plate 29 is heldbetween the pieces 26 and 30 with the screen support 33 and cylindrical screen 32 extending into the passage 31. Water enters into the passage 31, passes through the screen 32 and passages 34 and is formed into a fine jet 13 by the orifice plate 29. The orifice plate is precisely formed to generate a smooth, clear, solid jet 13. The jet breaks up into fine spherical droplets 13a which impinge on the target surface 14 to form the fine mist.

The impingeemnt and breaking up of the droplets creates a turbulence in the air stream which assists in maxing and consequent rapid evaporation of the droplet,s both within the discharge tube and after discharge. The air flow is from the inlet opening to the discharge opening As illustrated in FIG. 6 some water collects on the target and drains off. Also, larger particles are retained in the chamber 21.

The nozzle may be installed by mounting the nozzle on the end of a'feed pipe supplying water. The nozzle may be located in or atached to an air duct or in a room of any other location where the atmosphere is to be humidified.

In FIG. 5 the embodiment that is positioned vertically is illustrated. The tubular member 40 is similar to the tubular member 10 except that an outlet drain 41 is mounted in the bottom Wall 42 for draining the water that is not emitted through the upper opening 43. The feed member 44 extends horizontally and the target surface 45 on the pin 46 is tilted so that it makes a lesser angle to the axis of the tubular member 40 than the target surface 14. The' nozzle 47 is identical to the nozzle 12 and forms a fine jet which breaks up into droplets. The droplets impinge against the target surface 45. A slot 48 is provided in the tubular member 40 identical to the slot 19 in member 10 and a ring member 49 is slidably mounted to adjust the size of the opening and thereby the amount of mist discharged. The larger the opening, the greater the air flow and mist discharged. The main or'discharge member is in a vertical plane and is tilted at an angle to the vertical with the discharge opening facing upwardly. Thus water drains down the tubular wall without intenference with the air inlet 48. The tilting of the discharge member projects the fog away from the unit'so that the falling fog will not collect on the outside of the unit nor connecting piping.

The nozzle is designed to evaporate a minimum of one pint per hour or three gallons a day at low water pressures, or one quart per hour or six gallons per day athigh pressures. Thus one or two units will humidity the average home or 5000 cubic feet of volume in large rooms per nozzle.

The nozzle may be installed in hot air outlets or cool air inlets in a central heating plant of the hot air type, or it may be installed over radiators if the heating plant is of the hot water or steam type. The amount of evaporation is easily controlled by the ring members 20 and 49. The excess water that is not discharged is easily 3 drained from the nozzle. Since the total amount of water involved is relatively low, this unvaporized water presents only a minor economic loss which is easily offset by the simplicity of the nozzle.

The nozzle will function satisfactorily at water pres sures from to 100 lbs. or higher. The accessibility of the parts permits easy cleaning. The clogging of the screen or strainer in the nozzle is the difiiculty most likely to be encountered, and the nozzle can be easily separated and the strainer removed and cleaned.

The foregoing description has been in connection with the nozzle as a humidifier. However, other liquids may be used for other purposes Where a fine airborne mist is desired.

The invention is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A mistforming nozzle comprising a member defining an elongated axially extending chamber having a length many times the width thereof for confining an air flow, said member having in axially spaced relation an air inlet opening and a discharge opening at opposite ends of said chamber to provide air passing axially through said chamber, orifice means spaced from said chamber for forming a stream disintegrating into droplets moving transverse to the air flow, impingement means in said chamber between said inlet opening and said discharge opening and spaced from said orifice means to receive droplets in the air flow creating turbulence for mixing and evaporating disintegrated droplets in the air flow to form a fine mist emitted through the discharge opening.

2. A mist-forming nozzle comprising an elongated axially extending tubular member having an air inlet opening and a discharge opening with a long passage therebetween to confine flow of air through said tubular member from said air inlet opening to said discharge opening, a target surface intermediately positioned therebetween in said passage and at an angle thereto, means for producing a stream of liquid spaced from said target surface to permit the stream to separate into droplets and impinge on the angulated target surface to disintegrate the droplets in the passage and in the air flow to form a fine mist emitted through the dischange opening.

3. A mist-forming nozzle comprising a first cylindrical member defining an elongated axially extending chamber and having a large discharge opening at one end and an air inlet opening at the other end of said chamber to pass a confined flow of air therethrough, a target member mounted in said cylindrical member between said inlet and discharge openings creating turbulence in the air fiow and having an angulated target surface in said chamber to receive droplets in the air flow, a second cylindrical member extending from said first cylindrical member and having a longitudinal passage joining said chamber aligned with said target surface, said second cylindrical member having an orifice means mounted in said second cylindrical member and spaced from said angulated target surface to form a smooth, clear jet of liquid in said second passage and breaking up into droplets to impinge in said angulated target surface to deflect the disintegrated liquid reflected along the chamber to mix and evaporate the liquid in the air flow to form a fine mist emitted through said discharge opening.

4. A nozzle for producing an entirely airborne mist evaporable into an atmosphere, comprising a mist discharging member having a tubular shaped wall defining a cylindrical chamber with an air inlet opening extending through and partly around said wall to provide a wall portion between the ends of said inlet and a mist discharge opening formed by the end of the tubular member to form an air flow through said member from the inlet opening to the discharge opening, a feed tubular member extending transversely to said mist discharge member and having an internal axial passage joining said chamber, said feed member mounted at one end in the wall of said discharge member, orifice means mounted in the other end to provide a smooth clear jet converting into droplets moving transversely to the mist discharging member, a target member with a target surface mounted in said wall and projecting into said cylindrical chamber to position said target surface in alignment with said feed tubular member to receive the droplets of the jet formed by the orifice means and disintegrate the droplets into mist-producing particles mixing and evaporating with the air flow and larger particles remaining within the mist-discharging member and drain means for removing the accumulation remaining in the tubular member while the airborne mistproducing particles discharge through the duct opening.

5. A nozzle as set forth in claim 4 wherein said feed tubular member is horizontal and said mist discharging member extends upwardly and is tilted at a slight angle to the vertical with the mist discharge opening at the upper end to project emitted mist away from said nozzle to pre vent condensation of vapor thereon.

6. A nozzle as set forth in claim 5 wherein said drain means comprises a lower end wall and a drainage connection in said lower end wall for receiving the remaining accumulation.

7. A nozzle as set forth in claim 4 wherein said mist discharging member and said feed member are horizontally positioned and said drain means comprises a partial wall across the lower portion of said discharge opening and a drainage connection on the bottom of said tubular shaped Wall for receiving the remaining accumulation.

8. A, nozzle for producing a fine vaporizable mist comprising a member defining an elongated axially extending chamber and having in axially spaced relation air inlet means and discharge opening means at opposite ends of said chamber to provide a confined air flow passing axially through said chamber, orifice means spaced from said chamber for forming a stream disintegrating into droplets moving transverse to the air flow, impingement means in said chamber spaced a substantial distance rearward to the air flow from the discharge opening means to form a confined mixing and separating space in said chamber and being forward of said inlet means to the air flow, said impingement means spaced from said orifice means to receive droplets in the air flow creating turbulence for separating the larger unvaporizable particles from the smaller vaporizable particles of the disintegrated droplets to form a fine vaporizable mist emitted through said discharge opening means.

9. A nozzle for producing an entirely airborne mist evaporable into an atmosphere comprising an elongated tubular member having a length substantially greater than its width to form a passage for the flow of air axially therethrough, said tubular member having a large discharge opening at one end transverse to the passage and an air inlet opening at the other end for supplying air to said passage, a second tubular member extending laterally to said first tubular member and having a second passage extending laterally to said first passage and in communication therewith, orifice means fitted in said second tubular member at the end opposite to said first tubular. member to provide a smooth clear jet converting into droplets moving transversely to the first tubular member and the passage therein, a target member mounted in said first tubular member axially aligned with said second tubular I member and having a target surface at an angle to said first tubular member and said second tubular member, said target surface being aligned with said orifice means to receive the droplets of the jet formed by the orifice means in the passage and the air flow therethrough to disintegrate the droplets into mist producing particles for mixing and evaporating with the air flow for emission through the discharge opening while drawing air into said passage by the cooling effect of the evaporation to create further turbulence and evaporation of the mist producing particles.

10. An upwardly projecting nozzle for producing an entirely airborne mist evaporable into an atmosphere and discharged upwardly from the nozzle comprising an elongated tubular member having a length substantially greater than its Width to form a passage for the flow of air axially therethrough, said tubular member having a large discharge opening at the end positioned upwardly transverse to the passage and an air inlet opening at the other end for supplying air to said pass-age, a second tubular member secured to said first tubular member intermediate said openings extending laterally thereto at an acute angle to the portion of said second tubular member with said air inlet opening and having a second passage extending laterally to said first passage and in communication therewith, orifice means fitted in said second tubular member 15 formed by the orifice means in the passage and the air flow therethrough to disintegrate the droplets into mist producing particles [for mixing and evaporating with the air flow for an upward emission through the discharge opening and drain means in said first tubular member on the opposite side of said air inlet opening from said discharge opening for removing the accumulation of larger particles remaining within the first tubular member at the opposite end of said tubular member from the discharge opening. References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 306,767 10/ 1884 Nixon 239-103 1,133,656 3/1915 Motsinger 239433 1,951,587 3/1934 Tyler 239-103 1,975,067 9/1934 Colclasure 239434 2,809,819 10/1957 Losada 239-434 3,051,397 8/ 196-2 Hanson 239-432 ROBERT B. REEVES, Primary Examiner.

EVERETT W. KIRBY, M. HENSON WOOD, JR.,

Examiners. 

1. A MIST-FORMING NOZZLE COMPRISING AMEMBER DEFINING AN ELONGATED AXIALLY EXTENDING CHAMBER HAVING A LENGTH MANY TIMES THE WIDTH THEREOF FOR CONFINING AN AIR FLOW, SAID MEMBER HAVING IN AXIALLY SPACED RELATION AN AIR INLET OPENING AND A DISCHARGE OPENING AT OPPOSITE ENDS OF SAID CHAMBER TO PROVIDE AIR PASSING AXIALLY THROUGH SAID CHAMBER, ORIFICE MEANS SPACED FROM SAID CHAMBER FOR FOMRING A STREAM DISINERGRATING INTO DROPLETS MOVING TRANSVERSE TO THE AIR FLOW, IMPINGEMENT MEANS IN SAID CHAMBER BETWEEN SAID INLET OPENING AND SAID DISCHARGE OPENING AND SPACED FROM SAID ORIFICE MEANS TO RECEIVE DROPLETS IN THE AIR FLOW CREATING TURBULENCE FOR MIXING AND EVAPORATING DISINTEFRATED DROPLETS IN THE AIR FLOW TO FORM A FINE MIST EMITTED THROUGH THE DISCHARGE OPENING. 